The first in a series of posts, let's look at the holiday tournaments and what they mean! This first preview set takes us through the weekend. Later today, another post with Thanksgiving week stuff is coming.
Puerto Rico Tip-Off
Charlotte/Kansas St
Northeastern/Georgetown
Long Beach St/Michigan
Florida St/VCU
On the surface, the quarterfinal favorites seem obvious. Those 4 are hoping for an easy win, and maybe just as importantly, that the team opposite them also holds serve. If you're K-State, you'd rather take the signature win chance against G'town then wanting Northeastern. Resume boosts are more important than the raw tournament win.
Michigan could use something to balance out their ISU loss. VCU has a great chance to build up some equity. And Georgetown could help the Big East get some street cred. Whoever wins this tournament will likely have 2 useful resume wins. And whoever gets upset in the first round is going to regret it. The bottom half of the bracket will not provide much help.
Charleston Classic
Nebraska/UMass
UAB/New Mexico
Davidson/Georgia
Temple/Clemson
Seems like a tournament New Mexico should handle. They're the favorites. A bit of bad luck, though. Temple is down. Davidson is Davidson, but also down. Nebraska, Clemson, and Georgia are power conference teams without power conference skills. It'll be tough to find pure quality wins in this tournament, although there's no albatrosses in here either. UMass will have a chance at a signature win in the semis if it happens.
Anything less than 3 wins is going to look like a black mark to New Mexico. For everyone else, this is opportunity beckoning.
2K Sports Classic
UConn/Boston College
Indiana/Washington
Washington is frisky, but this should come down to UConn and Indiana. It's your standard fare signature game. One gets a nice win on their ledger, the other gets a loss that doesn't hurt too much.
Paradise Jam
Northern Iowa/Loyola Marymount
Marist/Maryland
Providence/Vanderbilt
Morgan St/LaSalle
There's some shiny names in here, but this isn't a great field. The likes of UNI, Maryland, and LaSalle won't be getting the resume help they were probably hoping for. Avoiding the quarterfinal upset is absolutely critical in this tournament - you do NOT want to get trapped on the wrong site.
Maryland/UNI could be a semifinal game that matters a bit. Maryland is going to be part of that soft underbelly of the ACC, and UNI in the MVC. Adding 3 marginal wins is exponentially better than having a loss of any kind in here.
Poor LaSalle is likely going to have to win twice to get any kind of value out of this tournament.
Coaches vs. Cancer Classic
Oklahoma/Seton Hall
Michigan St/Virginia Tech
A bummer lineup for MSU. At least they get signature win chances elsewhere. Free shot for 3 teams to pick up unexpected momentum.
Hall of Fame Tipoff
Richmond/North Carolina
Fairfield/Louisville
Assuming no funny business, UNC and Louisville get their first signature win chances here. Could be a very important game come March as far as seeding goes.
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